With the intent of offering more to the grocery-shopping experience, Kishman's IGA is in the midst of a major expansion and renovation project.

The expansion is adding 12,145 square feet to the north side of the supermarket at 202 E. High St. Kishman's current size is about 29,000 square feet.

The new area will be used for offices, storage and receiving. This will allow Kishman's IGA to free-up space currently used for those purposes for additional retail.

"We want to be here for a while," Tom Kishman, operator of the business, said. "We are trying to become more efficient. We are hoping to be done by the end of April or May."

Contractor for the project is Knoch Corp. The project was designed by Tem-Con Inc. of Tiffin.

Cost of the project will be "somewhere in $3.3 million, $3.4 million neighborhood," said Ben Hoyda of Tem-Con, who is project engineer. "They are completely renovating the entire building. The interior, everything will change."

The new receiving and storage area will have three bays for delivery trucks. Currently, Kishman's IGA only has one delivery bay.

"We have the capacity to unload one truck at a time," Kishman said. "We will be able to unload three trucks at a time. We will be picking up some efficiency."

And, along with adding traditional retail space, Kishman's will have a 24-seat cafe in the deli area.

"We are going to put in a nice salad bar, soup bar and cafe," Kishman said. "We are expanding our deli and bakery a little. The modern family is always on the go and they are looking for a quality dinner or lunch. We are really expanding all the perishable departments," Kishman said. "That would be meat, deli, produce, bakery and dairy. The interesting thing about dairy is we are going to put it all behind doors. That will keep the temperature more consistent."

The Kishman family acquired the grocery business here in 1954. Kishman's IGA is the only full-service supermarket in Minerva.

Kishman estimates his customer base takes in about a five- or six-mile radius from this village.